


Along the Climbing Way

by jesterlady



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 21:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Veronica and Logan have never had a Christmas together together.  Veronica needs to find Logan's present and it's hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Along the Climbing Way

**Author's Note:**

> It might help if you know the Grinch Who Stole Christmas as well.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own VM. The title is by Edmund H. Sears

Veronica rounded a corner and almost slipped. Catching herself, she cursed the fake snow that littered the floor. At a mall where all the shoppers were wearing shorts and t-shirts, the sight of Santa’s workshop with lots of people wearing plastic ears was slightly ridiculous. She could never quite understand the need for appearances, but it was Christmas and she was determined to be of good cheer.

She patted her bags, mentally ticking off the items for each person on her list. What better gift for her dad than a book about a detective solving a baseball player’s murder? Wallace was going to receive that book about engineering he’d been yammering about for awhile. She gingerly touched the bag containing cords and chips and all sorts of things that the guy at Radio Shack assured her would make a person like Mac very happy. It was resting next to the sordid romance novel Cliff was sure to enjoy. Weevil’s new gloves for his recently acquired motorcycle were resting beside the substantial Itunes gift card for Piz at home and all Parker needed to be happy was the latest Rihanna cd. Even Dick had been thought of and would be getting a Playboy bunny paperweight Veronica had bought, not because she thought Dick would use it to weight papers; but, because he was coming to the Christmas party and shouldn’t be the only one without a present.

Various small gifts going to people like her boss, her teachers, and Alicia were also waiting for her at home. There really was only one present left to get and it was the one she was dreading. What could she possibly get for Logan? Not only did the boy own everything in the world, but she really wanted to get him something special. It was their first real Christmas together. Somehow, amidst all their breakups and makeups, they'd always seemed to miss Christmas. Which meant that Veronica was spending her Saturday afternoon agonizing in an air conditioned mall while she coughed on glitter that was being blown off Rudolph’s rubber red nose.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the reason of all reasons. Veronica wanted to do Christmas this year. She wanted it to be special. She wanted it to be celebrated with all the people she loved and not filled with reminders of her mother’s absence, cases to be solved and the cheap show that was Neptune’s way of decking the halls. She remembered that Christmas a few years ago where carolers had wished Christmas merry over a knife stabbing and a poker game. She’d felt jaded then. Like Christmas was that show Neptune put on, not something special or holy.

Recently, she’d begun to feel something more towards Christmas. That it was a season of hope and hope was what had burgeoned within her the minute the carols started the fill the airwaves, moments after Thanksgiving dinner was done. It was strange considering her hatred of dressing up and pretending things were okay when they weren’t. Veronica wasn’t exactly religious, had never felt like she could believe in something that wasn’t staring her in the face. Her cynicism and realism just wouldn’t allow her to have faith. Slowly though, at Christmas, she could sense something within her that made her want something more. That craved the peace and hope other people got out of the season. Whether she would ever bow down at the manger with others, she didn’t know, but what she did know was that Christmas was supposed to bring people together, a time to show your family you cared. A time to make up for past mistakes. That’s why she wanted to get Logan something so badly.

She’d spent four hours in the mall. It killed her to give up without completing her mission, without finishing all her shopping, but she figured only one gift to get wasn’t that bad, considering. So she went home, she put everything away, she printed out some surveillance photos, started dinner and finished putting the lights on the tree. And she thought and she pondered and she puzzled. She might also have been watching _The Grinch Who Stole Christmas_ , but that was beside the point. Her puzzle wasn’t solved, however glad she might be that the Grinch’s was. At least they agreed that Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Logan arrived home a short while later.

“Haven’t you been a busy bee?” he asked, throwing his coat on the chair, ignoring her exasperated look.

Logan kissed her on the forehead and went to get some plates in the kitchen.

“Don’t start,” she said, following him. “I want a quiet evening of reflection.”

“I could have some monks flown in,” he said thoughtfully. “Only take a couple of hours.”

She made a face and bopped him lightly on the head as she passed. He caught her around the waist and brought her up against him, bending his head to kiss her cheek.

“Don’t I even get a hello?”

“You can have two,” she said. “Hello, Logan.”

And she kissed him.

“And Santa said I wasn’t a good boy this year,” he quipped, squeezing her before letting her go.

“Santa told me that it wasn’t necessary to get you anything, you already have everything.”

“Except coal,” he supplied. “Nope, never mind, I forgot about that coal mine in Maine. Sorry, yes, everything.”

“Shopping for you is a horror,” she told him. “I was at the mall for four hours, fighting to get upstream. I feel very salmon-like.”

“But infinitely more tasty,” he said, sitting himself down. His expression turned more serious. “Look, Veronica, I don’t need anything. Don’t hate me for the line, but you’re seriously the best gift I could wish for.”

“Have you been watching that cheesy advice show again?”

“That one’s pure Echolls. Or at least the Echolls take on something that’s probably as old as the hills. And I mean it. I’ve only ever wanted you and this time I aim to keep you if you’ll let me.”

“I aim to be kept,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Oh, the feminist in me is crying out at those words.”

“Tell her to stop crying and get my dinner,” he said, laughing.

She hit him harder this time and went to plug in the Christmas tree while he got the dinner. His words had given her an idea. An awful idea. A horrible, awful- she really had to stop watching Christmas cartoons. And it was a brilliant idea.

***

“I think the party was a success, don’t you?” Logan asked, pulling his new shirt over his head.

Veronica smiled, it was the perfect Logan shirt and she was glad she’d found it.

“Very. I think we managed to keep our respective friends well in line and have much merriment.”

“You’re a fetching hostess.”

“And you’re a charming host.”

Veronica fingered the necklace he’d given her. Along with tickets to Paris and the jacket she hadn’t thought he’d remembered her eying. For the heart, mind and body, he'd said.

“Something wrong, my sweet? I wouldn’t want a crimp to be put into the end of our perfect evening.”

“The evening’s not over yet,” she said.

He lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

She suddenly felt nervous.

“I wanted to give you my other gift.”

“Presents!” he said, bouncing on the bed.

She laughed.

“Yes. I wanted to get you something that you don’t have and something that would tell you…how much I'm glad we’re together at Christmas and…I don’t know.”

“A promising beginning,” he said. “I’m all ears.”

She grabbed the card from beside the bed and gave it to him. He opened it and read the card, a typical Christmas card with a _Love, Veronica_ on the bottom. But when he opened it, three small cards fell out. He picked them up and examined them carefully. He didn’t say anything.

“Logan? Come on, son, you’re making me nervous,” she said with an accent that was as spot on as she normally was. Logan…sniffed beside her, and put a hand to his eye. “Logan!”

He turned to her and grasped her hands.

“Best gift I’ve ever received,” he said quietly.

“It’s not an easy gift,” she said, “but it’s true and I wanted you to know it. I’m not good at this whole together thing and family thing and Christmas thing, but I’m starting to get it more than I ever have before and I want to share that with you.”

“I’m not good with the sentiments myself,” he said, bringing her to sit on his lap. “But these cards are perfect and hilarious and dangerous and marvelous.”

She picked one up and examined it again for the millionth time. It was a simple card she’d made herself, with cut out pictures from magazines of Logan's various arrests pasted inside, but it simply read _Logan’s Get Out of Jail Free Card_. Underneath she’d written: _Good for one cancellation of a Veronica Mars investigation. Usable anytime, expires never. I trust you._

“Use them well,” she said.

“I will,” he said, catching her lips in a kiss again. “I love you so much, you know that, right?”

“I do. I love you too. Merry Christmas, Logan.”

“Merry Christmas, my little minx.”


End file.
